Paediatric Chronic Pain Service

The South Australian Paediatric Chronic Pain Service, with a dedicated multi-disciplinary team, will allow early referral and coordinated outpatient and community management of children and young people with chronic pain. The team will work together with each child and family to formulate a pain management plan and provide communication and coordination to the family, carers, hospital and community based health services. The team will provide education and resources to empower patients and their families to participate in their own care to the highest degree possible. The progress of each patient will be monitored with the ultimate aim of restoring each child to their functional best and in the care of local community services.

Our Vision

That all South Australian children with chronic pain have access to care that is consumer focussed, consistent, equitable, culturally sensitive and based on best practice to maximise quality of life.

Aims

The key aim of the Paediatric Chronic Pain Service is to implement a dedicated, coordinated multidisciplinary pain management service for children and young people in South Australia.

This service will deliver:

Holistic care that enables children and young people experiencing chronic pain to develop their greatest potential and experience their best quality of life.

An integrated understanding of the child’s physical and mental experiences that promotes awareness of systemic factors contributing to their experience of pain.

A state-wide referral pathway to improve collaborative and effective working relationships between the primary, secondary and tertiary health systems.

Treatment options that are consistent with up-to-date clinical evidence and promote these options across all health care sectors while improving access to specialist advice for the primary health care sector to better manage children with chronic pain.

Education in order for children, and their care givers to develop greater capacity to self-manage their condition and ease the impact of chronic pain on their daily life.

Who is eligible for this service?

Children and young people aged up to 18 years

Children and young people with pain persisting longer than 3 months

Children and young people with pain which has significant impact on life eg sleep, self-care, mobility, work or school attendance, recreation, relationships and emotions.

Children and young people who have had management of their pain in the primary care or hospital sector with insufficient success.

Once a referral is received, questionnaires and a consent form are sent to the child's parents/caregivers in order to gain further information. After obtaining all information a determination is made as to whether the Paediatric Chronic Pain Service is the most appropriate service to address the concerns being raised.

If accepted, an appointment will be sent to the family.

If the referral is not accepted, the family and referrer will be provided with alternative options.

Where and when is the clinic held?

The clinic will run every Friday morning at the Women’s and Children’s Hospital in General Outpatient Clinics (level 1).